Tires air free tires

T

twinkiex

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Can anyone recommend air free tires? My friend just got them at airfreetires.com. She said they are very heavy, 5 lbs each so I am not sure of they are right for me. Not sure I can handle the extra weight. My beast of a bike is already too heavy for me.
 
know what? i've wondered about those. not because of weight, but the fact that there's no cushion over bumps. no air inside to soften the blows. not only a harder ride on my caboose, but i thought about the added stress on hubs and frames.
sorry to carp on your thread.
 
Air free tires work very well for and are made to be used in warehouses/factories.
They are not recommended for street use....Why? Because ride and traction is much better with air in the tires.

Google Sheldon Brown and read what he offers about airless tires. ;)
 
i had some in a bicycle tire once but the problem is they bend the **** outta your rim almost like square tires
 
Actually the link by audiodog is the way to go

Yes, KTI airless tires happens to be in Oceanside, CA, very close to where I live and I stopped by to visit them today. I was able to check and touch and feel and get an idea of them. I think they are good. I asked the president a bunch of questions about them and he also refered me to the first website on this blog to get them at retail www.airfreetires.com. Later on my visit to KTI an assistant helped me further and showed me how to mount them. You need to get their special tool. Believe me. A screw driver might work, but you might damage the tire. Also, if you take them out of the rim and reinstall them, it is very important to check if they did not stretch when taking them out of the rim and loose their thight fit to the rim. And it is very important to use the right rim width and type for the particular tire of your choice. Remember there is no air pressure to press the tire against the rim...so it is all on how good the molded rubber fits the width, depth and flange shape of your rim.
There are two different rubber formulations. One has more bounce. And the tires come in different weights to match your desired comparable PSI on a normal tire. They are available in almost all basic colors colors Blue, bk, R, Y, Grey and white. There is a link here to a list of other airless tire manufactures as well:
http://www.airfreetires.com/Competition/
In summary, if thorns are an issue in your area( and actually I know of one particular place like that), this is an option to consider. They might not offer all the thousands of choices on threads you can find on regular air tires, but I just thought one thing about the airless that makes them really appealing(besides being flat proof); this is if you have some time and patience you could cut threads yourself if needed; and there is no limit, because the whole thing is solid. Get a fatter sort of slick one and you could cut them into Knoby Tires!
If people build their own model airplnes...why not to build your own threads?
Have fun.
 
one more thing about the weight

Weights can vary with the tire volume, but also with the rubber density chosen. KTI ofers them in a broad range of weights. The harder ones might weight more and last longer, but the softer ones have more grip.(obvious)
They showed me bicycle (Cruiser, MTB) tire weights from below 2 lbs all the way to over 5 lbs.
 
hotsauce492003,
When mountain bike racers and/or enthusiasts start using them I will seriously consider them for my use. For the time being I think they are the hot ticket for warehouse or factory use. :)
 
imo, i agree with pete...these tires are not suited for anything other than road-racing on relatively clean asphalt, but in that situation they rock the house. firsthand experience.

the owner of KIK explained to me that the total volume of usable effective material is a fixed amount, and that is why the tires are so "small"...the inside stays foamy and the outer layer "skins up"...how long and how fast you spin the tires during the manufactoring process is how one determines simulated psi.

i do not personally recommend airfreetires...very bad experience with the guy.
 
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